The semi finals of Italia 90 was England biggest match since their 1966 triumph of winning the world cup, and was a night which will be remembered forever in English football. England had been gaining momentum throughout the tournament and West Germany had been the best team of the tournament this match would have made a fitting final. England were the brighter team to start off with, Gascoigne came close after few minutes. Pearce had a shot that went just wide and Waddle came close with a shot from the half way line. West Germany also created chances in the first half but Shilton had an easy first half. Mid way through the second half England went behind to a cruelly deflected free kick which deflected off Paul parker and looped over Peter Shilton. Lineker equalised with a great Poachers strike with ten minutes of normal time remaining. During extra time Chris waddle had a shot that hit the inside of the post, at the other end the Germans nearly scored as Buchwald's shot hit the outside of the post. During the second half of extra time, the tournament had one of its most memorable moments when Paul Gascoigne broke down in tears after receiving a booking which would have kept him out of the World cup final if England were to reach it. By the end of extra time the score was still level at 1-1 and the match had to be decided by the penalty shoot out. Both sides scored their first three penalties; Lineker, Beardsley and Platt all scoring for England. England missed their fourth penalty as Stuart Pearce's shot was saved by German goalkeeper Bodo Illgner. Olath Thonb scored Germany's fourth penalty, and then Chris Waddle blasted England's final penalty over the bar, which meant England were out of the world cup and West Germany were now to face Argentina in the world cup final.